Hoosier farmers didn't make much progress planting corn in the past week, after a strong early start -- and they're running out of time to get the state's signature crop in the ground.

Heavy spring rainfall didn't stop Indiana farmers from planting twice as much corn by the start of May as they had in 2015. They were on their way to planting a projected 2.6 percent more acres of corn than last year, despite a glut of the crop worldwide.

U.S. Department of Agriculture / https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/

The final avian flu quarantine has been lifted in Dubois County, where an outbreak earlier this year led to the loss of more than 400,000 birds.

The outbreak affected 10 turkey farms, all of which were identified within a 24-hour period. The State Board of Animal Health quickly quarantined the farms and restricted the moving of poultry or poultry products in and out of the farms.

The USDA is offering up nearly $12 million in funding to increase internet access in rural communities.

The annual federal grant program has funded one major Indiana broadband project in the past -- an $800,000 community computer center for Harrison County, near Kentucky.

Phil Lehmkuhler is the USDA's rural director in Indiana. He says it's hard to do business these days without the web -- more goods and services go online every year, putting disconnected towns at an increasing disadvantage.

The average age of Indiana farmers is 56, and as their retirement nears, there is a need to get the next crop of farmers up and running.

In Indiana and round the nation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $18 million to help educate and develop the next generation of agribusinesses. The funding is in the 2014 Farm Bill, under the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program.

Traci Bruckner, senior associate for agriculture and conservation policy for the Center for Rural Affairs, said the program is a great starting point for people who want to farm.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has wrapped up a two-day visit to Purdue.

He says a mountain of data the school has collected on rural communities, many of them agrarian in nature, may help the government better target solutions to problems such as child poverty.

“The ability of Purdue to help us identify the common characteristics of counties and regions where child poverty is high is going to give us the ability to focus government resources more effectively at trying to address that issue,” Vilsack says.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has chosen Purdue as the site of one of four regional centers for research into nutrition education and obesity prevention.

The North Central Nutrition Education Center of Excellence will focus on research into interpersonal, community and environmental factors that influence the food and physical activity choices of low-income people.